CAVITE PROVINCE said it will seek bids for the Sangley Point International Airport (SPIA) project’s operations and maintenance (O&M) soon, with groundbreaking expected to start within the year.

“Maybe at the latest, a month and a half after the awarding (of the project contract),” Cavite Governor Juanito Victor C. Remulla told reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of the P486-million Sangley Airport development project of the Transportation department at the weekend.

“We want it to be an international consortium. Even Philippine groups can apply for the O&M, it’s not closed,” he added.

Cavite province has awarded the $10-billion four-runway airport project to Lucio C. Tan’s MacroAsia Corp. and its Chinese partner China Communications Construction Co. Ltd.

Mr. Tan’s MacroAsia said it received the notice of selection and award for the airport project on Feb. 14.

“As soon as we start the airport, the O&M contract has to be discussed because the O&M operator has to be in the final design. [We need to know] how they prefer the layout… lahat ’yan (everything). We have to get it right away. We cannot retrofit an O&M operator, dapat sabay sila sa plano (they should be involved in the planning phase),” Mr. Remulla said.

Cavite, according to Mr. Remulla, hopes to break ground with its joint venture partner for the first phase of the SPIA project in the second quarter.

He said the groundbreaking will take place right after the consortium signs the contract documents.

The first phase of the project, which will cost $4 billion, includes the construction of the Sangley connector road and bridge to connect the Kawit segment of the Manila-Cavite Expressway (CAVITEx) to the international airport.

Phase 1 also involves the construction of the airport’s first runway, which can accommodate 25 million passengers yearly, helping to decongest Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila.

Cavite expects the airport to start fully operating by 2023, with partial operations to start a year earlier. The fourth runway will be opened after six years.

The same consortium will work on the other two phases of the project, but there may be contract renegotiations, according to Mr. Remulla.

The second phase, which will cost about $6 billion, involves the construction of two more runways, giving the airport an annual capacity of 75 million passengers.

The last phase is the expansion to four runways, bringing capacity to 130 million passengers. — Arjay L. Balinbin

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